GWR 28xx 38xx with early “British Railways” lettering?

[Halls and Prairies]

Please can anybody point me in the direction of any photographs of GWR 28xx or 38xx locos in the early BR 1948 livery with “British Railways” on the tender, in either style of lettering? I’ve seen examples of most of the other main GWR types in this style, but never one of these. It must have happened, but .....! Thank you in advance for your help. 

[WillCav]

BR(W) steam loco livery 1948-64 (gwr.org.uk)

 

is my go to page for this info - none listed in either Egyptian slab serif or the plainer sans serif lettering on 28xx/38xx.

 

Sorry if you've already found this - but it may be useful for other classes.

 

Will

[The Johnster]

BRITISH RAILWAYS in Egyptian Serif GW style lettering was applied between 14/1/48 and 31/5/48, after which the Gill Sans was used until September 1949.  If you can pin down any 28xx or 2884 that was given a full repaint after heavy overhaul at Swindon at those times then they should have carried those letterings on the tender.  1/1/48-14/1/48 were unlettered plain black livery, and post Septemeber '49 was the start of the unicycling lion regime.  It seems unlikley that no 28xx or earlier 2884 was outshopped and painted during that 21 month period.

 

You can most likely discount any of the later wartime builds of 2884s, though as they would probably have lasted in service throughout the transition livery period before accumulating the mileage required for overhaul, and gone straight from G W R austerity livery to unicycling lion.  The austerity 'grotesque' sans serif lettering applied at Caerphilly between 1942 and 1945 can be discounted as well, as Caerphilly did not overhaul tender locos at that period.

 

Sorry can't be of more use; hope this is at least a little helpful in eliminating locos that would not have carried the BRITISH RAILWAYS liveries.

[Halls and Prairies]

Thanks Will, I had seen it but thank you for sharing it in case I hadn’t. I have seen photos of a number of other locos not in that list:-

 

GWR style:- 4298, 6321, 3694, 6987 and I think some more of the 698* Halls, 5972, 4100 (no photo but from a reliable source), 6658, 2286, 4037, 270, 666, 3726, 3636, 4078, 4925, 1542, 4941, 5068 (8 wheel tender).

Gill Sans:- 4526, 5546 (I think - difficult to make out the numberplate but certainly 554*), 4241, 75, 4235, 73, 46, 6025 (blue livery), 5010 (experimental green livery).

Difficult to make out which font:- 4505, 6684. 

 

But no 28xx / 38xx so far .......

 

[Miss Prism]

Thanks for those. I have added your definites to the BR(W) steam loco livery 1948–64 page.

 

Regarding 28xx/38xxs, I have not seen 'British Railways' insiginia on a Churchward tender, so your mention of Mogul 6391 is interesting. Here it is on 19 September 1950 with nothing discernible, but it may have swapped tenders by then of course:

 

https://railway-photography.smugmug.com/GWRSteam-1/Churchward-Locomotives/Churchward-Tender-Locomotives/Churchward-4300-Class-Mogul/Churchward-Mogul/i-CQzrNJG/A
 

[Halls and Prairies]

Thank you all. 

 

Regards 6321, there is great photo posted on the “Railway Identification Group” on Facebook a few months ago. I don’t want to repost it here to avoid any copyright problems but have a look there if you can.